This invention relates to a support device for adjustably attaching a stirrup strap to a saddle, and more particularly to a support device for not only positioning, but also locking the hanger bar member in its adjusted position upon the saddle.
Stirrup bars or hanger bars having open rear ends for releasably carrying a stirrup strap to permit the stirrup and strap to immediately disengage the stirrup bar when a rider falls from his horse, are well known in the art. Furthermore, longitudinally adjustable stirrup straps are also known, support devices carrying a stirrup strap adapted to be longitudinally positioned relative to the saddle, without the rider dismounting. Examples of the above-described prior art are illustrated in the following patents:
______________________________________ U.S. PATENTS 1,174,489 Giles Mar. 7, 1916 1,335,826 Faithfull Apr. 6, 1920 2,739,434 Bell Mar. 27, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS British Patent No. 2,053,647 July 17, 1979 ______________________________________
Each of the above Giles, Faithfull, and the British patents discloses a stirrup strap hook or hanger member fixed to a saddle, and having an open rear end to release the stirrup strap if the rider accidentally falls from the saddle.
The above Bell U.S. Pat. No. 2,739,434 and the British patent disclose longitudinally adjustable hanger devices for adjustably supporting a stirrup strap from a saddle.
The above cited British patent No. 2,053,647 discloses two modifications of a stirrup strap hook or hanger supported upon a longitudinal stirrup rod or tube fixed at both ends to the saddle to permit rotation of the hanger member for longitudinal movement and counter-rotation for locking the hanger member in an adjusted position upon the fixed stirrup rod or tube.
Adjustable stirrup strap support devices are on the market which resemble those disclosed in the above British patent, and particularly the device disclosed in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the British patent, with certain modifications. The commercially available support devices, similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the British patent, include an elongated travel slot in the surface of a cylindrical support rod, having the same function as the keyway 8 in the British patent. The longitudinal travel channel is intercepted by a plurality of longitudinally spaced, circumferential position slots having the same function as the grooves 7 in the British patent. The commercial stirrup hangers utilize a ball detent, instead of the key 11 of the British patent, in order to travel along the travel channel and in the position channels of the support rod.
However, it has been found that in the commercial stirrup support devices, even when the hanger is supposedly secured in position upon the support rod, the ball detent tends to move so freely in its corresponding position channel that it sometimes enters the travel channel, causing the hanger sleeve to move along the travel channel and out of its desired stirrup position.